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Back in 2010 I attended a conference as part of my job called Drug Delivery to the Lung. One of the speakers was Karen Pickering, the swimmer, who has asthma. She said that in order for her to be allowed to take asthma medication she had to prove she was asthmatic. To do this she had to run around until she had an asthma attack. Whilst this is pretty traumatic it does at least identify those who are genuine asthmatics.

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Back in 2010 I attended a conference as part of my job called Drug Delivery to the Lung. One of the speakers was Karen Pickering, the swimmer, who has asthma. She said that in order for her to be allowed to take asthma medication she had to prove she was asthmatic. To do this she had to run around until she had an asthma attack. Whilst this is pretty traumatic it does at least identify those who are genuine asthmatics.

This is the very nub of the problem as I see it; genuine asthmatics do sometimes need emergency salbutamol inhalations to widen airways during an asthma attack but many asthmatics do successfully avoid asthma attacks by regular inhalations of corticosteroids (say fluticasone) to inhibit inflammation of the bronchial tubes. To administer the salbutamol inhalation the method is expel air from lungs, then after shaking the inhaler place it to the mouth, press to activate and breathe in the drug and hold breath for 10 seconds; then repeat. Just how easy is this breath holding when cycling in the peleton as pictures exist of this happening?

Basic Logic for me says if your asthmatic then your asthmatic and if you want to compete you have to work out how to compete without medication.

If there are two people of identical ability but person A has asthma and person B does not if by taking said legal medication person A could in anyway benefit and enhance their abilities then those medications should be banned from competitive sport, which I suspect would be the case.

There are other drugs that are needed for different conditions that would not allow you to then compete, eg by daughter does a little shooting and is quite a good shot, she was then prescribed beta blockers which if she wanted to start to shoot competitively she would not be able to take. I seem to remember something about a snooker player who had to rely on Alcohol as he could not use a prescription medicine, though that could well be fanciful fiction.

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Basic Logic for me says if your asthmatic then your asthmatic and if you want to compete you have to work out how to compete without medication.

If there are two people of identical ability but person A has asthma and person B does not if by taking said legal medication person A could in anyway benefit and enhance their abilities then those medications should be banned from competitive sport, which I suspect would be the case.

There are other drugs that are needed for different conditions that would not allow you to then compete, eg by daughter does a little shooting and is quite a good shot, she was then prescribed beta blockers which if she wanted to start to shoot competitively she would not be able to take. I seem to remember something about a snooker player who had to rely on Alcohol as he could not use a prescription medicine, though that could well be fanciful fiction.

Snooker and lager legend Bill Werbeniuk could not take beta blockers as drug is banned. Werbeniuk suffered from an hereditary nervous disease (or so he and his doctors claimed) which caused his hands to shake. The only solution which allowed him to participate in his trade was drink. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1419706/Bill-Werbeniuk.html a fantastic read.

Given that my muscles are smaller than many strong bike riders surely based on the principle of simply putting one on a level playing field I should be allowed to use anabolic steroids and growth hormone. At least that seems to have been the Armstrong ethos and copied elsewhere using different drugs.

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It's good to see this out in the open today and the committee has reported on how they view the situation to be, which concurs with the view of most spectators in my belief.

It's so sad, none of these athletes needed to do this to perform well, they would have been in the top x % without it, but the desire to be number 1 appears to have clouded the athletes and managers judgement.

The important thing with sport is that you compete to a set of rules and do not cheat, acting in a sportsman like way all the time. It's sad that so many appear to have lost sight of this.

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It's good to see this out in the open today and the committee has reported on how they view the situation to be, which concurs with the view of most spectators in my belief.

It's so sad, none of these athletes needed to do this to perform well, they would have been in the top x % without it, but the desire to be number 1 appears to have clouded the athletes and managers judgement.

The important thing with sport is that you compete to a set of rules and do not cheat, acting in a sportsman like way all the time. It's sad that so many appear to have lost sight of this.

One of the biggest problems in pro cycling is the number of confirmed dopers who manage teams. Nothing can go wrong there surely.

You do wonder if UKAD, WADA and the UCI have been asleep on the job when a rider applies to use banned drugs (citing medical need and gaining a TUE) just days before 2011 TDF, 2012 TDF and 2013 Giro when the drug is banned during competition.

Terrible timing to be ill just before three 3week bike races year after year!

“The success of Team Sky has been developed on the ‘marginal gain’ philosophy of seeking performance advantage in all elements that contribute to winning races.

Reader's comment--Colin Dutton 5 hours ago---Does the team have to inject it or is it going into their asthma medicine?

With 6 months passing since Froome gave an AAF on 07 Sep 2017 at La Vuelta when will Sky and Froome present their case/defence bearing in mind that the 2018 Giro starts 7 weeks tomorrow and the 2018 TDF is less than 4 months away?

Soon would be good for the sake of the sport and to stop Team Sky being ridiculed.